Welcome - West Africa (Mesh)

Podcast:The Nairobi Ideas Podcast

The Nairobi Ideas Podcast by The Mawazo Institute gives a public platform to the Africans who are making an impact with their Big Ideas. This season explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the continent.  

Project Report: Gown and Town: Increasing retention of high school students to improve adolescent health in Nigeria

In this project, from the Institute of Child Health, University of Ibadan and funded by the DELTAS Africa CPE Seed Fund, viewpoints were shared by adolescents and teachers through a photo exhibition to understand reasons behind high school dropout rates. A stakeholder forum was held to give students an opportunity to voice their experiences and to catalyse better support for high school enrolment and retention, enabling adolescents to make better decisions to improve their health.

Published Literature: Ebola-related stigma in Ghana: Individual and community level determinants

Although Ebola-related stigmatization continues to undermine efforts to re-integrate survivors, few studies have examined what influences such stigmatizing attitudes. This paper explores the effects of both individual- and community-level factors on Ebola-related stigma in Ghana.

Published Literature: How can community engagement in health research be strengthened for infectious disease outbreaks in Sub-Saharan Africa? A scoping review of the literature

This literature review, published in 2021 and funded by ALERRT, looks at the body of knowledge that has been developed for community engagement specifically as it applies to emerging infectious disease outbreaks in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Project Report: Clinical and Genetic Studies of Hereditary Neurological Disorders in Mali

This project used focus group discussions, individual interviews and community meetings to explore stigma around hereditary neurological diseases in Mali.

Published Literature: Involving young people in health research

This study published by Wellcome in 2021 explores the role, benefits and potential of young people’s involvement in health research, with a focus on mental health, infectious diseases and global heating. It provides recommendations on how to meaningfully involve young people in research, and what it means to do that well.

Report: Lab_13 Ghana

Lab_13 is an in-school space dedicated entirely to investigation, innovation and creativity; a space managed by young people; a space where children learn to be scientists as well as learning science. The project has developed a family of laboratories based within primary and secondary schools, in both rural and urban environments, across the UK, London, Europe and Africa. 

Academic Literature: Lessons from the West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological and Social and Behavioural Science Research Priorities

This literature review compared epidemiological research (EPI) with qualitative social and behavioural science research (SBS) published during the West African Ebola epidemic.

Literature: Building the legacy of Ebola: Survivors, health systems and a blueprint for research and development

Project Report: An Exploration of the Lived Experience of African Journalists during the 2014 Ebola Crisis

Project Report: Epidalert Case Files

Repository: Ebola Response Anthropology Platform

Academic Literature: Conventional Wisdom versus Actual Outcomes: Challenges in the Conduct of an Ebola Vaccine Trial in Liberia during the International Public Health Emergency

This paper is an assessment of a phase II, randomized controlled trial of an Ebola vaccine undertaken in Liberia during the 2014-15 West African outbreak.

Academic literature: Trust, fear, stigma and disruptions: community perceptions and experiences during periods of low but ongoing transmission of Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone, 2015

Academic Literature: Development of a set of Community-informed Ebola Messages for Sierra Leone

This paper summarises a project based in Sierra Leone during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak that produced a set of culturally contextualised Ebola messages. The messages are based on findings from interviews and focus group discussions with community members from two Ebola ‘hot-spots’.

Academic Literature: Ethics of Randomized Trials in a Public Health Emergency

This paper briefly summarises the discussion of a committee which aimed to assess clinical trials conducted in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

LITERATURE: Engaging 'Communities': Anthropological Insights from the West African Ebola Epidemic

This article, by Wilkinson et al. 2017, deconstructs notions of 'community', and the ways it is conceptualised and understood, in order to critically reflect upon methods of engaging 'communities' during the west African Ebola epidemic in 2014. 

Literature: Research Report - An Exploration of the Lived Experience of African Journalists During the 2014 Ebola Crisis

This research report from the World Federation of Science Journalists explores the lived experience of African journalists during the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa with the aim of highlighting key professional, technological and social aspects required for effective journalism during emergency and post-outbreak periods.

Article: Evaluating public communication of science and technology: The case of the Ebola virus

This article analyses media coverage and public communications over the time of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa 2013-2016 with a focus on the interations between scientifically grounded information and messages from cultural and religious actors.